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5/01/2012

Hot Docs Day 5: The Imposter

The Imposter

(UK, 95 min.)

Dir. Bart Layton

Imagine that you are a mother – or a sister – and your
thirteen year old son/brother has gone missing from your neighbourhood in San
Antonio, Texas. Over three years go by without so much as a word on his
whereabouts. Then, out of the blue, you receive a telephone call from a
friendly man who tells you that the boy has been found in a small town in the
south of Spain. Overjoyed that the nightmare is over, you welcome the boy back
into your life. He looks a little different and he acts a little different, but
you remind yourself that growing boys change in their teenage years. He has
also been through a traumatic experience, so he is bound to be a little
strange. Then imagine that you learn the reason your son/brother is different
is because he is actually an imposter.

This scenario is outlined by the title character of The Imposter in the film’s opening
scenes. The imposter is actually a twenty-three old French/Algerian man who
passes himself off as a missing boy in hopes of gaining a better life in
America. The imposter, Frédéric Bourdin, explains that he faked his way to
America by presenting himself to the Spanish authorities as a missing American
child. He then cons the police into giving him one night before contacting his
alleged family. Bourdin then used the opportunity to research missing boys by
contacting American authorities himself and by masquerading as a Spanish
policeman. Then, in an act of deception akin to that of Keyser Soze, Bourdin
presents himself as Nicholas Barclay, a young boy who went missing from Texas
three years prior. By learning the facts and by manipulating the situation to
his advantage, Bourdin convinces the authorities (both Spanish and American)
and even Nicholas’s own family that he is the missing child.

It is a horrifying story, but the imposter is an excellent
storyteller. He should be, since he has built a life upon trickery. The
imposter is so engaging, so energetic in his delicious account of being the
only person to assume the identity of a missing child in America. The charm and
audacity of his narrative help one understand how everyone – aside from one
cowboy private investigator – was convinced by his performance.

The Imposter uses
a form and structure reminiscent of James Marsh’s Oscar-winning doc Man on Wire by blending interviews with
the subjects along with dramatic re-enactments. The Imposter also displays an impressive editing job by Andrew
Hulme, which carefully structures the footage so that the story becomes more
puzzling as it progresses. Hulme and director Bart Layton do a masterful job of
withholding information from the audience and then revealing it at just the
appropriate moment when viewers are presumably drafting such questions
themselves. For example, at one point in the film, the imposter voices a
question that is gradually building in the audience’s mind. If the members of
the family are so willing to accept this man as Nicholas in spite of the
obvious physical and behavioural differences, then just what exactly did happen
to Nicholas that might make his family so eager to accept a placebo?

The absurdity of the scenario has more thrill and intrigue
than even the most suspenseful Hollywood thriller. Of the dozens of questions
raised by the film, the strangest is the mystery of how this imposter managed
to execute such a farfetched charade in spite of the overwhelming degrees of
plausibility and credibility that should have worked against him. The film
ultimately questions our desire to create a happy ending for ourselves, since
the family found catharsis by embracing this imposter, but then inadvertently
stalemated and complicated the mystery of Nicholas’s disappearance. This
well-documented farce essentially shows how human beings are deceptive and
depraved, and that anyone who believes in the kindness of strangers is either
naïve, desperate, or just plain out to lunch.

The Imposter is a
flawlessly executed feat of storytelling. Not only is The Imposter the best film at Hot Docs so far, but it’s the best
film I’ve seen so far this year.